Virgil Sanders and Deceits Mirror
by Paggers
Summary: Patton is concerned when he finds Virgil scfeaming at a mirror, but why? Why had it made him so upset and angry? Thats what he wanted to find out. Will Sanders Sides be able to figure it out?
1. The Mirror

"I can't believe I did that. I should've just come back to my room and stayed there. Why am I so _stupid?_ I-I can't do anything right?. The reaction the others had when they heard those words leave my stupid _stupid_ mouth. I mean, I'm anxiety what did I expect? I am honestly trying to be nicer and help them. I aim to protect not harm. Why can't I do that? W-what is _wrong_ with me?" Virgil ranted to his own reflection. His breath rapidly getting harder to catch. He was on a continuous cycle of self-depreciation, a cycle he could never quite get out of on his own. As he sat there, his head pressed between his knee's, shaking so violently that it was as if he was an earthquake that never ended, he stared at his reflection as it slowing transformed from Virgil to an old foe, Deceit...

"Oh come on _Virgin,_ you know they don't respect you, you make them feel depressed and anxious, you don't _belong_ with them, they are the positive sides, you are one of us Anxiety, come back to us, join me and the _others_ , the ones Thomas doesn't want to believe exist, the rejects, cause that's what you are, that's what your always going to be..." Deceit chuckled.

"STOP...please?" Virgil shouted, his voice cracking as tears rolled down his face making his eyeshadow run everywhere.

"Kiddo? Are you okay son?" A welcoming voice said through his black and purple door. "It's only me, your good old Papa Patton, I heard you yelp from my room, just checking to make sure your fine and dandy buddy."

Patton. The father figure of the group. The moral compass of all of Thomas' sides. To Virgil, Patton was the closest thing he had to a friend, the only one who had never insulted him, his _best_ friend, he supposed. Even though Virgil's head screamed for him to say, "No, I'm not okay, please _please_ help me Pat. I-I _need_ you." Instead his mouth translated that to, "I-I-I'm f-fine, I just stubbed my toe, that's all" sobbing as he said it.

"Oh my poor dark baby, look Virge, I know your lying to me, you said, 'Stop please', you wouldn't have said that if you had injured yourself. Please open up the door kiddo, we could build a snowman in Roman's room, it doesn't have to be a snowman?"

"I know you want to help me Patton, I just don't think you can, as much as I loved the little frozen quote there..."

"What frozen quote?" He very seriously for Patton interrupted.

"N-never mind okay, I can ha...hmm... _handle_ this on my own bud." Said Virgil quietly as if not to draw attention from Roman and Logan all the while never taking his eyes off of Deceit.

"Look, I'm sorry but, you leave me no choice Virge, I'm coming in!" Declared Morality.

"W-wait no!"

But it was too late for that now, Patton had barged the door open and stood in the door frame as the youngest element of Thomas' personality sat there in a ball staring at the mirror that laid opposite him. Tears streaming down his face, his favourite headphones snapped in half next to him.

"Oh Virge, I am so _so_ sorry. I didn't realise. Oh, you poor unfortunate soul."

"T-the little mer...maid?"

"I don't think now is the time to distract me with randomly suggesting Disney films that don't have anything to do with the situation son. I need to focus on you now Virgil." Patton firmly yet softly said.

As Patton was the eldest of the sides and the one with the most compassion and empathy, when Virgil got into a state of, well, extreme anxiousness and panic, he was the one who went out of his way to ensure that he felt safe and calm. He gently tapped Virgil on the shoulder and whispered softly his name in his ear redirecting his gaze from the mirror to his best friend. Pat could see the fear and panic in his eyes as clear as day now. He was lost in his eyes and shocked with what he saw. He had often helped Virgil through his attacks, but this was ...different. He had never seen him like _this_ before. It was almost as if Virgil wasn't panicking about Thomas, it was about, himself. He screamed at his _own_ reflection. For the first time since entering the room, Patton glanced at the mirror to see Virgil sat there crying, it was a perfect reflection, only it was wrong somehow, as he stared at it a sudden ripple spread across the looking glass making him jump.

"What! What is it? Patton! Why did you jump! W-why?"

"Nothing kiddo," replied the Dad figure, "Listen Virge, could you just look into the mirror one more time and tell me what exactly you see, I hate to put you in this position but in this case it's what needs to be done to help you, just trust in me kid."

"Okay, I trust you Pat but s-seriously what's with all the disney quotes." Sobbed Virgil.

"Just focus Virgil, my sweet innocent child, please just do it and remember, what ever you see, I'm right here next to."

Virgil struggled a worried smile, took a deep breath and looked into the mirror once more describing what he could see as Patton had asked him to.

"I-it's...Deceit, h-he's telling me I'm lying to myself by pretending to be a part of this family. He, he says, he says I belong with the... _others_ Pat." Struggles Virgil, tears once again cascading down his face. "I can't, I can't, I _won't_ go, please Patton don't send me back, I don't want to back to the other side!" He cried. "Please."

His head fell onto Morality's shoulder as he cried so hard it was silent. No noise escaped apart from the occasional whimper of Virgil trying to catch a breath. Patton wrapped his arms around and whispered in his ear, "Shhh, it's okay, I'm here, I'm right here, I promise I'm not going to leave you, he can't get to you, I will protect you."

He kept repeating these words and hugging Virgil tight until he drifted off into a deep sleep at which point he gently tucked him into bed and wiped away his tears. He decided that it was probably best for him to stay in case he woke up and so he sat there and watched him sleep. Patton couldn't get what Virgil had said about Deceit out of his head, how was it even possible for him to contact Virgil? Deceit was a trait that didn't have access to the mind palace because Thomas had banned him from doing so since he pretended to be Patton. Unless? No, maybe? It had occurred to him that he had never seen that mirror before and the design, it wasn't Virgil's style, instead of his typical black and purple theme, the mirror was black and yellow with a golden snake brooch. Morality urged to wake up Virgil and ask him where he got the mirror from but resisted as he needed rest after what he just went through.

A sudden wave of nervousness struck Thomas' heart in the heart and he realised why. He had been in Virgil's room for much too long, but what could he do? If he left he would be breaking his promise, but if he stayed he risked having an anxiety attack himself and in turn affecting Thomas. He stood up and started to pace the room trying to decide what to do until he clicked his fingers and sent both Virgil and himself to Thomas' living room.

"W-what?"

"Hush now Virgil, go back to sleep kiddo, I'm right here, I've not left you." Hushed Patton, waiting until he drifted back off to turn his attention to Thomas who sat there in shock at what he had just seen.

"Wha-what care to explain?" He stuttered.

"I think Deceit might be trying to sabotage Virgil, Thomas, I found him in a bad way, he was a mess, he sat there screaming at a mirror to stop. He told me it was Deceit saying that he doesn't belong with us and he belongs with the _others._ " He explained. "But I, I just don't understand how Deceit got to him, he can't get into the mind palace."

"But, how could I have not known Virgil was having an attack, he's _my_ anxiety, why didn't I feel it or even have an attack myself?"

"I don't know, I just don't know." Sighed Patton

"Are you okay Patton, you don't seem yourself."

"I'm fine, I'm just worried about kiddo over here." He gestured towards the frail sleeping Virgil who looked so peaceful yet troubled.

"It's not just that though Patton, you're being really serious and anxious, how long exactly were you in his room?"

"It doesn't matter now, I think you should call the others, maybe they can help? I'm running out of ideas to be perfectly honest with you."

This was when Thomas knew something was really wrong, Patton hadn't even attempted to make a dad joke, maybe it was just the tension of the situation, but it just felt wrong.

"Logan? Roman?" Thomas called.

Without a delay the two popped up in their usual positions, Logan in the door frame and Roman in front of the T.V. Before either of them could speak, Thomas shushed them and pointed to the sleeping figure draped in Patton's arms.

"Oh sweet mother of Julie Andrews. What happened here?"

Patton just put his head down and sighed. He just didn't know what had happened.


	2. The Gift

Earlier that day...

"I can't believe Thomas knows about Deceit now, it's like he can't silence us any more!" Said Patton.

"Yeah, I know, it's fantastic. Finally, we can discuss that snake face without being slapped in the mouth!" Replied Roman with a hateful look of disgust on his face.

They were all sat in the common room having a mug of hot chocolate discussing the events of Deceit's, well, deception. Logan kept pretending that he knew all along that he was impersonating Patton, but everyone knew this was untrue. Virgil just sat on the floor of the common room drinking his hot chocolate and listening to the audiobooks Logan had given him for Christmas. He wasn't listening though, not fully, his mind was elsewhere. He kept replaying all the things that he had said to 'Patton', he had a very strong feeling that it was Deceit which is why he said a lot of harsh things. He was saying them to Deceit directly, but the others didn't know that, they thought he was talking to Patton. What should he do? If he let them believe he was saying those things to Patton, he would never forgive him but if he told them the truth, they would hate him even more. The others must have noticed he was getting anxious because Patton grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. This filled Virgil with comfort and briefly made him forget about his worries until Patton asked,

"What's troubling you kiddo?"

He couldn't answer, his mouth went dry. What could he say? He knew he had to tell the truth but how. He didn't want to destroy the friendships he had worked so hard to gain. He took a couple deep breaths and opened his mouth to speak.

"I...hmm I, I have something I need to tell you guys." He stuttered as a wave of instant regret struck him, no turning back now, "Today, when Deceit was pretending to be Patton, I, I said some things. I knew it wasn't Patton, I knew it was Deceit." He spat out, "I knew it was Deceit because we were friends once. He wasn't a good friend, I know that now, I have you guys, I hope. He used to threaten me and beat me and force me to do things, like, like randomly making Thomas look bad or doubt himself. I thought that was what friendship meant, but I was wrong, I see that now. A long time ago, Deceit had planned to do something like this, well, exactly this, and he made me go undercover to make Thomas' life hell, which in turn, made my life hell, but that was nothing compared to what he said he would do to me if I didn't. So, I, I did it, but then you guys accepted me as one of you and I left Deceit. I never really understood why he wanted me to do those things but I guess I was too scared to question him. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that, I could have stopped this from happening, Deceit would have never drugged Patton and replaced him, Thomas wouldn't have had to go through so much stress. I, I'm sorry."

The others just stared at him speechless. They didn't know what to say. Virgil couldn't take it anymore, he had to get out of there. He rushed to his feet, and teleported to his room.

When he got there, he was so upset he didn't even notice the box next to his bed. He just locked the door and reached for a button he had in his draw, an old 'souvenir' from his time with the _others_. This button had the power to wipe any information he wanted from the minds of the positive sides. Without a moments hesitation, he hit the button thinking that it would give him some relief, but it didn't. They may not remember what he told them but Virgil did and the part he remembers the most was their reactions.

It was only as he crawled onto his bed that he found the box. It was fairly large and wrapped in purple and black paper. Who ever had given him this knew him well because these were his favourite colours. Maybe it was from Patton before he found out the truth, or rather, didn't. Cautiously, he began to unwrap the box. Inside, was a mirror. It was a beautiful mirror but it didn't make any sense. Virgil decided to put it up anyway to help with his guilt. He thought that if it was from Patton, putting it up would make him feel better. It was so strange. His reflection looked like him but it was off somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Hours past and the longer he pondered at the looking glass the more it made his mind fall through a rabbit hole of worry.

Which leads us back to the panic attack... **(see previous chapter)**


End file.
